SENIOR ASSOCIATE DEAN

“We see the growing concern of students and parents with employment prospects not as a domain beneath our proper notice, but rather as a deep aspect of our obligation as a liberal arts college to prepare our students for a life of purposeful work. At our best, we challenge ourselves as an institution to wrestle actively and joyously with the world as we encounter it. In so doing we model this mindset for our students as they work to construct their own lives.”

Bates President Clayton Spencer

Inaugural Address

October 26, 2012

Bates, one of the nation's leading liberal arts colleges, seeks an experienced, visionary, and charismatic leader to oversee the Purposeful Work program and the Bates Career Development Center (BCDC), launching and leading a new joint enterprise that links the core values of the liberal arts to the project of preparing students for lives of work, meaning, and social contribution. Reporting to the Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, the Senior Associate Dean will serve as a dynamic campus leader and senior administrator with strengths in thinking both philosophically and organizationally, and a commitment to supporting the goals and aspirations of students from all backgrounds.

Purposeful Work at Bates is a college-wide initiative that helps students identify and cultivate their interests and strengths and acquire the knowledge, experiences, and relationships necessary to pursue their aspirations with imagination and integrity. The program is grounded in Bates' mission, has curricular and co-curricular aspects, and takes a four-year, developmental approach to working with students. This is an exciting opportunity for a strategic thinker with a commitment to the liberal arts and an understanding and appreciation for career development. The goal is to create a new organizational structure that brings together the newly designed Purposeful Work program with the Bates Career Development Center in a way that provides a more coherent experience for students, alumni, and employers.

The new Senior Associate Dean will be an effective communicator to both internal and external audiences, clearly and convincingly sharing goals, plans, and initiatives. The Senior Associate Dean will design, implement, and assess an organizational structure that leverages the assets of the Purposeful Work program and the Bates Career Development Center, eliminating duplication of efforts, to create a department that works collaboratively with faculty, staff, students, alumni, and employers to build on and expand the work of both units. This integrated organization will support the mission-based, developmental, and pragmatic approaches to helping students be intentional and self-reflective about the work they do while at Bates and after graduation.

Bates has retained the services of the national executive search firm Isaacson, Miller, to conduct the search. Ponneh Varho, Vice President is leading this search with Marc St.Hilaire, Associate. Confidential inquiries, nominations, and applications may be directed to: http://www.imsearch.com/6150.